Duval and Kudla Among USTA Australian Open Wild Card Playoff Entries
The USTA has announced that Victoria Duval, the 18-year old breakout star of the 2013 U.S. Open, and top 21-year old Denis Kudla, will headline the up-and-coming Americans playing for a singles wild card entry into January’s Australian Open at the 2013 USTA Australian Open Wild Card Playoffs, Dec. 20-22 at Life Time Athletic at Peachtree Corners in Norcross, Ga.
Duval, who has overcome extraordinary adversity on her way to becoming the fifth-youngest player in the WTA Top 200 at number 168, is also one of several players with Atlanta ties competing in the annual Playoffs, held at its current location for the fifth straight year. Jarmere Jenkins, a College Park, Ga., native who nearly won the NCAA “triple crown” in May as a senior at the University of Virginia, winning the NCAA doubles and team titles and reaching the singles final, will compete on the men’s side, while Atlanta native and 2011 U.S. Open junior champion Grace Min is also in the women’s field.
The other men’s competitors will be number 130 Rhyne Williams, the 2011 NCAA singles finalist at Tennessee who won last year’s Australian Open Wild Card Playoff and nearly defeated number 28 Florian Mayer in the first round in Melbourne, No. 156 Steve Johnson, who won consecutive NCAA singles titles in 2011-12 while at USC; number 183 Tennys Sandgren, a former all-American at Tennessee; number 241 Austin Krajicek, once an all-American at Texas A&M; number 304 Bjorn Fratangelo, the 2011 French Open boys’ champion; and number 306 Chase Buchanan, the 2009 USTA Boys’ 18s national champion and 2012 NCAA doubles champion while at Ohio State.
Also competing in the women’s field are number 125 Shelby Rogers, who won USTA wild cards into the 2013 French Open and U.S. Open; number 150 Madison Brengle, who won USTA wild cards into the 2007 and 2008 Australian Opens; number 175 Maria Sanchez, once the top-ranked college singles player at USC; number 184 Nicole Gibbs, the two-time reigning NCAA singles champion from Stanford; number 188 Julia Cohen, a former Top 100 player; and number 195 Sachia Vickery, the 2013 USTA Girls 18s national champion who reached the second round at the 2013 U.S. Open.
Duval, who upset 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur in the first round of the U.S. Open this August, once lived in Atlanta and trained at Life Time, when it was known as Racquet Club of the South. While there, she met the family of real estate developer Harry Kitchen, who helped rescue her father after he was buried alive during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, having him airlifted to the United States for treatment.
The USTA secured this opportunity through a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia, where the two national federations exchanged wild cards for the 2013 US Open and 2014 Australian Open.
To help kick off the event, former tennis pros and celebrities Luke & Murphy Jensen, whose underdog run to the 1993 French Open doubles championship both captivated and influenced the tennis world, will play doubles against five local teams in the “Battle of Georgia” exhibition on Saturday, Dec. 21. The Jensen brothers will also host a women’s tennis clinic at Life Time on the morning of Friday, December 20. The club will also host a kids’ day on Saturday morning, featuring the players competing in the Playoffs, with all kids attending receiving free admission to Saturday’s matches.
Eighteen-year old Madison Keys, currently the youngest player in the WTA Top 40 at number 38, won the last two women’s Australian Open Wild Card Playoffs and began her breakout 2013 campaign by reaching the third round of the Australian Open with the wild card. Also among previous champions are John Isner, Ryan Harrison, Lauren Davis, Christina McHale and CoCo Vandeweghe.
